A Case Study on Implementing ITIL in Business Organization – Considering Business Benefits with ROI. PDF

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[Sultana, 2(4): April, 2013] ISSN: 2277-9655 2277 IJESRT INTERNATIONAL JOURNA JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES ENCES & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY A Case Study on Implementing ITIL in Business Organization – Considering Conside Business Benefits with ROI Naznin Sultana Department of Computer Science &...

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[Sultana, 2(4): April, 2013]

ISSN: ISS 2277-9655

IJESRT INTERNATIONAL JOUR URNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH RE TECHNOLOGY

A Case Study on Implem ementing ITIL in Business Organization – Considering C Business Benefits with ROI Naznin Sultana Department of Computer Science nce & Engineering, City University, 40 Kamal Ataturk urk Avenue, Bulu Ocea cean Tower, Banani, Dhaka, Bangladesh [email protected] Abstract This report presents a case stu study that leads to an analysis of IT strategy in telecomm mmunication sector of Bangladesh for a case company. Thee ccase company is banglalink (BL), the one of the leading ing telecommunication service operator in Bangladesh, with ov over twenty-six million mobile subscribers. banglalink’ss nature n of business is highly technology dependent. Its entire ire operation is directly or indirectly dependent on technolo ology. So a consistent IT framework can ensure that IT inve nvestments would drive business areas to meet their goa oals. However, no IT framework was found adopted duringg m my survey period in banglalink. The report includes the results found from both the interview and the survey condu nducted to collect the necessary data for a deeper analysis. s. The T analysis is done using several well known methods and nd frameworks. Finally ITIL has been suggested as the possible pos IT framework which can be implemented throughout ut the organization. Adoption of a structured IT framewor ork would enable the organization to perform its business in aan orderly and effective manner benefiting the customers ers and, in the process, aid in its own competitiveness and grow owth. Keywords: ITIL, ITSM, ROI , SLA, SL SLR

Introduction Information Technology Infrastructure Library. A standard non-proprietary ry approach for managing IT that helps make business ss ssense of tools, standards, and processes. A framew ework to best practices to manage ITSM (IT Servicee M Management). Areas of focus includes service deliver very and service support. Recently some features like ke Security and Risk Management, Infrastructure Management, Application Management are added ed. This is a framework that align IT services with ith current and future needs of business and customeers as well as improve quality of IT services deliver vered. The main benefit of implementing ITIL is that of reducing the long-term cost of service provisioning.

Brief Overview of Relation ITIL with Business The Information Technology gy Infrastructure Library is a set of concepts and policies ies for managing information technology (IT) infrastructure, development and operations. ITIL is th the most widely accepted approach to IT Service Mana nagement in the world. It promotes a quality approach ach to achieving business effectiveness, economy and eff efficiency in the use of information systems. The etho thos behind the development of ITIL is the recognitionn tthat http: // www.ijesrt.com

organizations are becoming incr ncreasingly dependent on IT in order to satisfy their ir corporate aims and meet their business needs. ITIL IL is a cohesive best practice framework, drawn from fro the public and private sectors internationally. ly. It describes the organization of IT resources to t deliver business value, and documents processes, s, functions and roles in ITSM. ITIL is to be adopted and a built upon by an organization as per its purposes es and needs. ITIL is supported by a comprehensive qualifications qu scheme, accredited training organizations, s, and implementation and assessment tools. In today's 's competitive c market, being ITIL complaint is a defin finitive edge over the competitors. Information Technolo ology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a series of books oks that are used to aid the implementation of a framew ework for IT Service Management (ITSM). Being a framework, it is completely customizable for app pplication within any type of business or organization n that th has a reliance on IT infrastructure. The ITIL origin ginated as a collection of books each covering a speci ecific practice within ITSM. ITIL books are develo eloped by Office of Government Commerce, U.K.. (OGC). It is the world's de-facto standard best practice pra framework for ITSM. OGC also has qualifi lification certification program for ITIL followers.

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ISSN: 2277-9655

[Sultana, 2(4): April, 2013] ITIL is cornerstone of good quality ITSM and a necessity for quality assurance. It provides a systematic, process-based approach, supported by procedures for key IT service management processes. ITIL is Technology independent. ITIL gives a detailed description of a number of important IT practices with comprehensive checklists, tasks and procedures that can be tailored to any IT organization. The ITIL series consists of several books providing guidance on the planning, delivery and management of quality IT services to support business needs comprising issues pertaining to Service Support, Service Delivery, IT Infrastructure Management, Application Management, Business Perspective, Security Management. ITIL has clear definition of various terms used in ITSM in a concise yet comprehensive manner. ITIL provides a comprehensive set of guidance to link the technical implementation, operations guidelines and requirements with the strategic management, operations management and financial management of a modern business. Among the benefits associated with adopting the ITIL which have been identified by the users are improved customer satisfaction with IT services, better communications and information flows between IT staff and customers, better management control over ITSM and reduced costs in developing and implementing procedures and practices within an enterprise. ITIL improves the performance of processes which are being followed in an organization leading to high quality output. It goes into great detail regarding the process, implementation and the content of the key deliverable of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Service Level Requirements (SLRs). ITIL contains tried and tested processes. It has a quick-start approach to help in making the best use of time and resources available and see quick results. It led to improved productivity of the organization itself and also of delivery of third party services through the specification of ITIL. The well defined ITIL processes also minimizes duplication of efforts, dropped hand-offs and unapproved work. Additionally, individuals gain a better understanding of roles and responsibilities and how they each contribute to the success of IT and the business. It separates administrative tasks and technical tasks to help in assigning the most appropriate resources. In short, ITIL improves efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the ITSM. ITIL describes the management of IT Services in the context of the lifecycle of those services. The focus of ITIL today is integration of IT into the business, assuring the delivery of business http: // www.ijesrt.com

value and the treatment of services as business assets. ITIL describes the life of a service from conception to retirement, within a Service Portfolio detailing aspects of planning and development as well as objects, specification, description and requirements of the services in use or being offered for use through means of the processes. Each process has a home in the lifecycle stage book where it is most active. The lifecycle approach gives an improved, holistic structure within which to describe all the functions, processes, roles and responsibilities that constitute ITSM Best Practice. The two basic requirements of ITSM are: (a) Service Delivery: ITIL's Service Delivery component includes tactical processes necessary for planning and delivering quality IT services, which is defined in SLA. Service Delivery best practices address Availability Management, Capacity Management, Service Level Management, Service Continuity Management (contingency planning) and Financial Management for IT Services. (b) Service Support: ITIL's Service Support component focuses on the operational processes that enable companies to provide IT Support and maintenance activities on a day-to-day, around-theclock basis. SeService Support Dicipline includes Service Support Service Support disciplines include Change Management, Configuration Management, Problem Management, Incident Management and Release Management (including software and hardware control and distribution). This includes service desk facility as single point of contact and disaster recovery mechanism. The objective is to minimize disruption to the business by proactive identification and analysis of the cause of service incidents and by managing problems to closure. Organizations have significantly cut costs, have improved processing time and have enhanced their overall service provisions. Since IT is what drives business today, service provision to customers has a major bearing on the interests of CIOs. The accurate measurement of service provides them with strategic information for decision making in their quest for return on investment and the alignment of IT with the business. From small organizations to multinational enterprises and anything in between, this best practice framework has helped many improve efficiencies and bottom line figures, putting IT back in business.

Objective The main goal of this case study is to research on the case company and do some statistical analysis on a single unit of IT infrastructure i.e. IT Helpdesk unit and measure both quantitative and

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[Sultana, 2(4): April, 2013] qualitative way for the betterment of the service support by reducing cost but yet providing optimal services. Aligning IT with business goals and service objectives by focusing ITIL which separates administrative tasks and technical tasks to help in assigning the most appropriate resources.

Analysis of Usage Management Processes

of

ITIL

Service

ITIL service management process comprises of two core service sets: Service Support and Service Delivery. These two core sets are made up of 10 disciplines listed below in Table 1:

Methods In order to accomplish the aforementioned goal, following sequential methods have been used: • Collection of information about overall situation, its impact and consequence in telecommunication sector in Bangladesh from secondary and unpublished sources, media, internet , articles, papers or the like. • Study and review existing services provided by the case company and identifying proposed services(ITIL) as the best practices which can led to improved productivity of the organization itself and also of delivery of third party services through the specification of ITIL. As the well defined ITIL processes minimizes duplication of efforts, dropped hand-offs and unapproved work. Additionally, individuals gain a better understanding of roles and responsibilities and how they each contribute to the success of IT and the business. • Interviewing experts from IT infrastructure and as well as Technical and Service support department of the case company. • Design of a set of related components to provide these services. • This case study was conducted for BL by considering the IT Auditor’s feedback and recommendations.

Benefits Achieved by Implementing ITIL Ultimately IT Service Management is about maximizing the ability of IT to provide services that are cost-effective and meet the expectations and needs of the business.

Table 1: ITIL service management process with purpose

Considering the above discussion on ITIL service management process below framework in Fig 2, with any third party vendor who implement ITIL can be adopted by BL to implement ITIL in their organization.

Figure 2: Sample ITIL implementation team structure

In Fig 2. there should be two project manager , one from BL and another from third party vendor. From vendor side there should be implementation team, trainer and consultants who will report project manager of vendor side. On BL side the implementation team member will be from different IT units. They will report to project manager during ITIL implementation stage. Both manager of two sides will work together and follow up the procedure jointly. So if the case company wants to go for ITIL practice they should form a team with specific roles and responsibilities given in Table 2.

Figure 1: Major benefits of ITIL

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Table 2: Proposed Team Structure with Role & Responsibilities

ITIL processes & definition & Implementation & Training. Ex: SM, IS, ITSC, AM, CM, SLM, SCM etc. 7. ITIL processes & definition & Implementation & Training. Ex: SE, SS,SIP etc. 8. ISO 20000 Audit. For the proposed three phases discussed above the case company has collected budgetary quotation from local vendor company which is given in the Table 3.

Typical ITIL Implementation Approach for Banglalink To implement ITIL for the case company it will be convenient if they implement it in three different phases according to the suggestion of ITIL consultant as the case company is not using ITIL right now. This is shown in Fig. 3. The description of three different phases are : Phase 1: This phase focused on awareness training for decision makers as well as different project teams. Phase 2: It focused on real implementation, efforts required considering ITIL framework. Phase 3: It deals with obtaining ITIL certification for the case company through ISO 2000 audit team.

Fig 3: Proposed implementation plan

The total plan is divided into eight different sections which is shown in Fig.3, should be implemented in sequential order in three different phases. The eight different sections are: 1. Program Planning & Kickoff. 2. Baseline Assessment & Gap Analysis. 3. Action Planning & Project Scheduling. 4. ITIL processes & definition & Implementation & Training. Ex: Request Fulfillment, Access, Problem, Incident & Effort Management. 5. ITIL processes & definition & Implementation & Training. Ex: KM, SWT, R&DM, S&CM, SM, TPM. http: // www.ijesrt.com

Table 3: Budgetary quotation from local vendor

ROI (Return on Investment) From the budgetary quotation presented in Table 3, it is found that the case company requires USD 137K to implement it. So for getting optimum Return Of Investment, I took several interview with Helpdesk unit General Manager and some other helpdesk executives to collect business data for my study purpose. Based on the gathered information the following calculations are made: • Average monthly salary of Help Desk executive is $600/month. • Average cost per employee $7 per hour. The example, shown in Table.4 the following assumption are also made based on one year data from Helpdesk Trouble Ticketing System(TTS is a SW by which the case company provides IT support to users through this workflow management software. User raised problem ticket through this software and their support agents resolve problem through built-in workflow, so that they can quantify how many tickets per month, per day, per year resolved through how many agents and which SLA time). Table 4 also provides ticket information of one year and from that table the following information is found. • Average total number of helpdesk Tickets is 12,000 per year. • Average Downtime related incident Tickets is 1080 per Year (9% of total tickets).

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Average Recurrent related incident tickets is 1080 per Year (9% of total tickets). Average Configuration related incident tickets is 2880 per Year (24% of total tickets). Average other tickets is 7000 per year (58% of total tickets).

Limitations In absence of proper IT framework, it may not be ensured that banglalink’s information and related technology supports its business objectives, its resources are used properly and its risks are managed appropriately. • ITIL has been proposed to implement on IT helpdesk unit based on one year data of trouble ticketing system but its pros and cons would only be projected when it is deployed. • Another limitation is that in the absence of adequate data due to the confidentiality of the case company the result obtained is not the optimum one.

Conclusion

Table 4: Counting and measuring tickets from TTS software

Using the information given on Table 4, I just tried to find out best ROI, worst ROI and average ROI scenario on four different ITIL processes(i.e. configuration management, incident management, problem management & capacity management) which is given in Table 5. From the analytical data in Table 5, it is clear that if the case company will use ITIL only on their Helpdesk unit they can return their investment within 3year 5 months in best case scenario, 4 year 10 months for worst case scenario and 3 year 7 months for average case scenario. This case study is done only on a single unit (IT Helpdesk) of the company. But ITIL can be implemented on entire IT department even for whole company. In that case ROI can be achieved more quickly and will get more benefit.

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Implementing ITIL is not a quick fix nor will it be easy to implement. It takes a lot of thought, commitment and hard work to successfully change the way the IT organization does business. There needs to be upfront planning, training and awareness, ongoing scheduling, roles created, ownership assigned, and activities identified in order to be successful. Implementation and credentialing the ITIL in ITSM requires knowledge and training. ITIL is intended to be non-prescriptive, expecting that organizations will have to engage ITIL processes with their existing overall process model. Even with a successful service operation in place, there is still a need to consider improvements at every opportunity. This will help protect against losing competitive edge and will ensure that the best possible outcomes are being achieved. Continual Service Improvement focuses on the process elements involved in identifying and introducing a cycle of service management improvements. This survey provides approximate benefit that can be achieved but true outcome is not quantifiable until or unless any company do proper practice of it. The real benefit is vast than that is estimated in my paperwork.

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Table 5: ROI calculation based on Table 3 & Table 4

Future Work Although this study was done on part of IT Infrastructure department i.e. service support. For achieving optimum result it can be implemented on the whole ITIL Service Strategy; ITIL Service Design; ITIL Service Transition; ITIL Service Operation; and ITIL Continual Service Improvement. A sound service strategy is essential in the creation of high quality IT services. It provides a base upon which to build a successful service management function and ensures that best value is delivered to business customers. Being a framework, it is completely customizable for application within any type of business or organization that has a reliance on IT infrastructure. ITIL series consists of several books providing guidance on the planning, delivery and management of quality IT services to support business needs comprising issues pertaining to Service Support, Service Delivery, IT Infrastructure Management, Application Management, Business Perspective, Security Management. As per my study th...